POP STOP

Compiled by Noah Buchan / Staff Reporter

Jolin Tsai’s romance is safe for now.

Photo: Taipei Times

Pop Stop recalls those glorious months leading up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics when many in the international community balked at China’s terrible human rights record. The response from Taiwan: Don’t politicize sport.

And while politics and sports make poor bedfellows, inviting pop in for a “3P” is even worse.

Someone at the 54th Asia Pacific Film Festival, which runs until Dec. 4 in Taipei, appears not to have heard.

After Taiwanese taekwondo sensation Yang Shu-chun’s (楊淑君) disqualification from the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, and a few controversial statements by a Korean official, the film festival’s organizers canceled an invitation for South Korean girl band Girls Generation to perform at the event.

“The invitation isn’t appropriate as it’s a sensitive time,” a film festival official was reported as saying.

Spineless codswallop, Pop Stop thinks, especially considering the band’s popularity among Taiwan’s largely apolitical youth, who will be the only ones affected if the nine-member group refuses to perform here in the future.

Hopefully, with municipal elections past and tempers returning to normal, the Korean kerfuffle known as Sockgate has come to a close. Now, on to the real news.

And what could be more compelling than the latest gossip about Jolin Tsai’s (蔡依林) love life? When the pop diva was first eyed in Japan a few months back with New Zealand stud Vivian Dawson, gossip hounds saw a fairy-tale romance in the making.

Last week, the paparazzi sniffed out Tsai and Dawson heading towards Tsai’s Ruian Street (瑞安街) apartment in Taipei. A few days later, it was reported that Dawson had received an invitation to Tsai’s Christmas concert and it was further rumored that they would spend New Years together. Do we hear wedding bells?

Don’t bet your Christmas goose on it. Though the pair may spend some festive time under the mistletoe, it would seem there is plenty to go around.

“Vivian two-times Jolin with hottie in steamy photo session,” (錦榮背Jolin私會辣妹自拍) screamed a recent headline in the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper).

The rag spotted Dawson over the weekend with a sexy young thing wearing hot pants. The pair allegedly giggled and snapped their way through a shopping trip and then — ready for the denouement? — Dawson sent her away in a taxi.

That’s it. No hand holding or careless whispers. In fact, Dawson spent much of the time talking on his mobile phone — and probably with Tsai, who hours later picked him up from his apartment. So much for two-timing.

In other news, Selina Jen (任家萱) of popular girl band S.H.E continues to recover from injuries following an accident while filming in Shanghai. HIM International Music (華研國際音樂), Selina’s record company, said that though she is fighting bouts of fever she should be back on her feet soon.

And speaking of filming, Van Ness Wu (吳建豪) sustained a minor cut when a rock struck him on the back of the head while shooting a commercial, reported the United Daily News. Could it have been a message from Him upstairs?

The singer and actor was quickly whisked off to a clinic for treatment, but rather than use a doctor to shave off the hair around the gash, Wu’s manager called in a stylist for the trim. After a few clips, the 3cm wound was dressed and he was dismissed without stitches.